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Why do we assume the original protocol will endure?
If I understand correctly, the protocol has not changed significantly, if at all, since the genesis block.
The original protocol renders key attributes of bitcoin:
finite supply
respect of physics (PoW as a consensus algorithm)
use of secure cryptographic hash functions like SHA-256
etc.
I have two questions:
Why do we assume the protocol, or at least these aspects, will not change?
If these aspects were to change, and most nodes would switch to a different chain with the new protocol, would this fork be a “new token”?
For instance, if SHA-256 was broken and 99% of nodes switched to the fork using a more secure algorithm, would the bitcoin token on this fork initially (in the first minutes of its existence) have a low market value?
Thank you.
These are all abstract questions which in all likelihood will have little relevance to actual events.However, they are very useful for my understanding, so I am grateful for help community members can provide.
And more specifically, even if it does change it would just become a fork and the original will exist and the original will always have people dedicated to it.
Even if Bitcoin loses some of its monetary value, the network would still persist and be better than any other coin, even if they are ‘worth’ more.
If these aspects were to change, and most nodes would switch to a different chain with the new protocol, would this fork be a “new token”?
Bitcoin doesn’t fork.
Minority chains die.
Bitcoin remains Bitcoin.
The only reason bcash stayed alive is they intentionally broke the Difficulty Adjustment Algo so that it would oscillate relative to Bitcoin and occasionally be profitable to mine.This helped offset the costs of all the irrational mining required to keep it up for bagholders.
Fascinating, for some reason it reminds me of the fact that an exponential’s derivative is proportional to itself.
The code is open source.Anybody can download their own copy, change it any way they want, and run it.
The issue with making incompatible changes to the protocol is not technical, it’s social.Any incompatible version is called a “hard fork” and will run alongside as a separate network because current bitcoin nodes will ignore incompatible data from other nodes.You need to get other people to agree to run your version.
If the change is something like increasing the supply cap…you’ll have a hard time convincing others to do it.If the change was to fix a major technical issue (such as your hypothetical exploit in SHA256) then it would be easier to get people on board.
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